Sokors continue coming despite terror threats

Korean envoy Son Sang-Ha informed STAR publisher/chairman Max V. Soliven yesterday that, despite the "terrorist" alarms, tourists and businessmen from South Korea were continuing to come to Manila in undiminished numbers.

The envoy said that last year there were more than 300,000 South Korean tourists who visited the Philippines, and by the end of this month he expected the total of Korean tourist arrivals to surpass that number. He admitted that he had received a few calls from Seoul from prospective investors and businessmen scheduled to come here who had been concerned about the news of the closure of the Australian and Canadian embassies and reports of terrorist activity, but he had told them that things were normal here and they need not fear coming.

The ambassador, who was accompanied to the meeting by Counselor Suk-inn Choi of the Embassy, invited Soliven to South Korea at his convenience, underscoring the fact that new developments there would be interesting to the Philippines.

Ambassador Son, a graduate of Seoul National University, joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1971, after passing the High Diplomatic Service examination.

He has been posted to Indonesia, Malaysia, Norway, and Germany. In November 1992, he was named Minister of the Korean Embassy in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and served there as deputy chief of mission until 1995, when he was designated Director-General for West Asia and African Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). In August 1996, he was appointed Director-General Overseas Residents and Consular Affairs Bureau of the MOFA. In 1997, he was sent to Shanghai (China) as Consul-General, then was promoted to Chief of Protocol of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He holds the Order of Service Merit (Yellow Stripes) from his government.